Pickled Garlic
26th Aug, 2015

Whether you grow your own, or get your supplies from The Garlic Farm, there's an abundance of fresh garlic at this time of year. Garlic will keep well for months, if it is stored in a cool, dark environment. But if you have more than you can use, or just love the sharp piquancy that pickling lends the cloves, try pickling it in jars and refrigerating, to enjoy throughout the winter months.

At its simplest, you can pickle garlic in red or white wine vinegar and salt. But for a more flavoursome pickle, try our recipe below - or be inventive and add your own favourite spices to the mix!

Ingredients

•3 garlic bulbs, separated into cloves. The amount will vary slightly depending on the size of your garlic.

•1 teaspoon pure salt (not table salt, which has anti-caking additives that will make the brine cloudy)

•1 teaspoon mustard seeds

•3 all spice berries

•1 whole dried chilli, or 0.5 teaspoon chilli flakes

•sprig fresh basil

•Sterilised 500ml jar

Method

1.Blanch the garlic cloves in boiling water for one minute. This will loosen the papery skins and allow you to slip them off easily, once cool.

2.Measure all the spices into a sterilised jar

3.Add the garlic cloves

4.Boil the vinegar, then pour it over the garlic cloves

5.Seal the jar and leave to cool overnight, before refrigerating.

Pickled cloves can be used in place of fresh garlic. Or try using them to stuff pitted olives, served alongside cheese canapés, added to Mediterranean stews, mashed into potato with olive oil, or served alongside other zingy palate cleansers at a raclette dinner. The brine also makes a fantastic base to salad dressings, when you have eaten all your pickled garlic.